With Partick Thistle bottom of the league and without a win this season, Alan Archibald knows that failure to record a victory on Saturday against second-bottom Dundee United may see the same vultures which were circling the now vacated offices of Jackie McNamara and Ian Baraclough looking for fresh meat down Maryhill way.
Archibald though, has plenty of credit in his account at Partick Thistle. The club stuck by their man last season as he navigated a similarly poor spell to emerge with a highly respectable eighth-place finish, and Archibald hopes that he can repay their faith yet again.
He said: “We had a sticky spell the season before and the board stuck by me, and they have this season as well to this point, so it’s great to have that backing.
“I think we’ve probably not had as much pressure because we’ve been unlucky at times and actually been playing quite well - we’ve not taken a battering, touch wood.
“We’ve not been far away and I think anyone who has watched all of our games can see that.
“I’ve got a good relationship with the board, they know the restraints we work under and they always want to meet our targets if we can do that.
“The fans have been with us too and they were on Saturday there as well, but they will turn if they see the players not giving 100% effort or if it’s not going the way we want. You’ll get a section that will always turn against you.
“We’re fully aware of that, and that’s when the players have got to be big and stand up and take the ball under that pressure.
“We’ve had a bad start. We’ve had bad runs before but it’s come at the start of the season this year which has made it a lot worse, but we’ve got to turn it around soon and we’ve got a great incentive to do so on Saturday, because if we can beat Dundee United we’ll go above them and get off the bottom of the league.
“It’s vital that you don’t get detached and it will give everybody a morale-boost if we can get off the bottom as well because nobody wants to be there.
“Coming in on a Monday morning the lads have been down, I’m not going to lie, and when you’re reading that table and you’re at the bottom it’s not pretty.
“Sometimes it takes a couple of days to get the lads lifted, so we’ve got a great incentive to take a win into the international break.”
Archibald expressed his sympathy for his axed former colleague Jackie McNamara, and feels that he, like McNamara, may be a victim of his own success.
“I haven’t spoken to Jackie, although I dropped him a text,” he said.
“We’ve had two in a week and you always feel for them. I know most of the backroom staff up there that lost their jobs.
“Sticking my managerial hat on I think it’s harsh. He’s done a very good job up there."
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